The Iron Crown |Shadowhunters|

Prologue

"Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience:
this is the ideal life"
-Mark Twain

Antwerp, February 8, 2018

Lisa Cartwright tightened the grip on her bow. She felt her heart beating in her throat, as if it wanted to warn her for the approaching danger. 

"I should have stayed inside," she stammered. Lisa turned another alley in and felt the sensor in her pocket vibrate even harder. That meant she had come closer to the danger. It was pitch black in the streets of Antwerp, with no single street lantern to be spotted. But thankfully she had a night vision rune drawn on her arm, welcoming the gentle burn as the rune fulfilled its purpose. Her sense of vision heightened aiding her as she walked the streets. Lisa's nose turned up in disgust noticing a familiar stench, a stench that made her stomach turn. Demons.

Less than a second later, a Raum demon blocked her way. His white, scaly skin shone in the moonlight. The tentacles grabbed at her wildly, trying to grasp her. Lisa cold-bloodedly raised her bow and shot. 

Two hours earlier 

Lisa looked up from the book she was reading and glanced at the clock, its big hand already pointing at the nine. She had completely lost track of time and jumped up from her seat.

She quickly rushed through the corridor and stormed into the next room. 

"Lisa!" cried Lotte, who cheerfully rushed to her and embraced her with all her strength. Lisa sighed in relief, luckily she was okay. 

She pulled herself loose from Lotte's embrace and looked around. The cheerful duo was not yet complete. 

"Look auntie Lisa, I made a drawing!" A smile appeared on Lisa's lips, she thought the name auntie was so cute. Even though she was only the friend of Lotte's sister.

Lotte reluctantly dragged her along to show her the piece of artwork with great pride. It was a drawing of her with a cape, flying through the air, while she beheading demons. Her ginger hair blew in the wind and the blood splashed around. It wasn't exactly what you would expect from a ten-year-old. Lisa swallowed nervously. 

"You really have got talent," she lied. Lotte nodded smugly. Lisa anxiously looked around again. She had one job: to look after the children and even there she failed. "Did you see your brother somewhere?" she rapidly asked. 

"No," Lotte said with big eyes, obviously lying. Lisa raised an eyebrow. "He wanted to ruin my drawing, so I locked him up in his room," she blurted. 

"Lotte Starkweather!" It wasn't the first time she locked Maxim up in his room. Now she was staring at Lisa with a pout and fake-tears in her eyes.

Lisa clenched her jaws and sighed. "You go to your room now, it's late!" 

"You can't make me do anything, you're not my mom!" she said, but then she turned around and walked – hopefully – towards her room. 

* 

Lisa hurried to Maxim's room and tried to open the door. As expected, it was locked. She grabbed her stele from her pocket and rapidly drew an opening rune with the silver wand on the door. 

The lock clicked, she opened the door. Lisa looked around, no Maxim to be seen. Until she was waterdrops fall from the ceiling, this time the cause wasn't a leak in the roof, but a little boy who drooled in this sleep.

Disgusting. 

The white moonlight shone on his innocent face, he had climbed all the way up and laid himself on a wooden beam at the ceiling. If she'd wake him, he could fall down. She definitely didn't want to explain to her friends how she turned their brother into apple sauce.

As quiet as possible, Lisa jumped on Maxim's bed and tried to climb on one of the beams in a catlike way. 

Instead of jumping on the bar, her head hit the wood. She definitely hadn't been a cat in her past life. Maxim woke up at the hard bang, his head appeared over the edge of the beam. 

"Lis? Are you still alive?" he squealed, staring at Lisa who laid on the ground. Her cheeks burning with embarrassment, she got up as a sign of life. 

"Come down," she said slightly irritated. He jumped down and landed gracefully on the ground, as it behooves a shadowhunter. 

"Why were you lying up there?" she asked, confused as always. 

"Why were you lying on the floor?" he returned in defense. When she didn't smile, he added: "Lot locked me up again." 

That's not an explanation Max." He completely ignored her and yawned. Without saying another word, he went straight to bed. She pitied him, he had to be exhausted. "Okay, sleep tight," she stammered. Max had the weird habit of pretending everyone to be invisible. She left, leaving the door ajar. 

*

I'm the worst babysit ever, thought Lisa, back on her way to the library. She sat back on her chair and just wanted to continue reading when she heard her cellphone ringing. When she had found the device between the cushions, the ringing had already stopped. Lisa looked at the screen, her heart skipped a beat when she saw who had called.

Jonathan Starkweather, Lotte and Max's brother. It wasn't the first time he had called, she already had four missed calls. With her heart beating in the throat, she called back. Lisa silently cursed when it went straight to voicemail.

"Jonathan! What's going on?" she asked suspiciously. "I thought you just went with Anna to see why the alarm was going off? Lot and Max are fine though. Can you call back as soon as possible?" 

Lisa hesitated a few seconds, but then stood up and walked to her room. This was not normal, Jonathan and Anna were gone for too long. Perhaps this time it wasn't a false alarm - which it often was - but shouldn't they be able to handle a few demons on their own? 

When she arrived at her room, she quickly grabbed her sensor. It still detected demon activity in the Kruiperstreet. Only now it had become a high activity, the red light was a thorn in her eye. 

Lisa really started to panic. She grabbed her gear while running to the armoury. There she put on her black leather gear and her hair in a messy ponytail. Lisa took two seraph blades and a few daggers, which she shoved in her belt. The adrenaline rushed through her veins. She also took her bow and deftly swung her quiver over her shoulder. Lisa drew quickly, but carefully, a few runes with her stele. An invisibility rune, also one for speed and night vision.

Once outside she gasped for breath, thanks to the cold air she could think more clearly. The sensor should lead her directly towards Anna and Jonathan, she started running. Armed to the teeth and cold sweat dripping down her forehead.

______________
Did you like the prologue? Let me know in the comments!

What happened to Jonathan and Anna? Will Lisa be able to save them on time?
Or is it already too late?
Discover it in the next chapter -->
Also remember: Trust no one